GridPP5 RHUL Staff Grant (Grid System Expert)
Lead Research Organisation:
Royal Holloway University of London
Department Name: Physics
Abstract
This proposal, submitted in response to the 2014 invitation from STFC, aims to provide and operate
a computing Grid for the exploitation of LHC data in the UK. The success of the current GridPP
Collaboration will be built upon, and the UK's response to production of LHC data in the period April
2016 to March 2020 will be to ensure that there is a sustainable infrastructure providing "Distributed
Computing for Particle Physics"
We propose to operate a distributed high throughput computational service as the main mechanism
for delivering very large-scale computational resources to the UK particle physics community. This
foundation will underpin the success and increase the discovery potential of UK physicists. We will
operate a production-quality service, delivering robustness, scale and functionality. The proposal is
fully integrated with international projects and we must exploit the opportunity to capitalise on the
UK leadership already established in several areas. The Particle Physics distributed computing service
will increasingly be integrated with national and international initiatives.
The project will be managed across various domains and will deliver the UK's commitment to the
Worldwide LHC Computing Grid (WLCG) and ensure that worldwide activities directly benefit the UK.
By 2015, the UK Grid infrastructure will have expanded in size to 50,000 cores, with more than 35
PetaBytes of storage. This will enable the UK to exploit, in an internationally competitive way, the
unique physics potential of the LHC.
a computing Grid for the exploitation of LHC data in the UK. The success of the current GridPP
Collaboration will be built upon, and the UK's response to production of LHC data in the period April
2016 to March 2020 will be to ensure that there is a sustainable infrastructure providing "Distributed
Computing for Particle Physics"
We propose to operate a distributed high throughput computational service as the main mechanism
for delivering very large-scale computational resources to the UK particle physics community. This
foundation will underpin the success and increase the discovery potential of UK physicists. We will
operate a production-quality service, delivering robustness, scale and functionality. The proposal is
fully integrated with international projects and we must exploit the opportunity to capitalise on the
UK leadership already established in several areas. The Particle Physics distributed computing service
will increasingly be integrated with national and international initiatives.
The project will be managed across various domains and will deliver the UK's commitment to the
Worldwide LHC Computing Grid (WLCG) and ensure that worldwide activities directly benefit the UK.
By 2015, the UK Grid infrastructure will have expanded in size to 50,000 cores, with more than 35
PetaBytes of storage. This will enable the UK to exploit, in an internationally competitive way, the
unique physics potential of the LHC.
Planned Impact
GridPP's knowledge exchange activities fall into two main areas: firstly, those aimed at other
academic disciplines, and secondly, business and industry. GridPP has a strong outreach programme
to a public and academic audience, and intends to continue this in GridPP5. The Dissemination
Officer will organise GridPP's presence at conferences and events. This includes booking and
manning booths, arranging backdrops, material, posters, screens, and rotas where appropriate.
Examples of events that we have attended include The British Science Festival, The Royal Society
Summer Exhibition, the British Science Association Science Communication Conference and Meet
The Scientist at the Museum of Science and Industry in Manchester.
GridPP has developed an extensive website that is central to project communications. The
Dissemination Officer will be responsible for producing news items for the website and drafting
GridPP press releases. We have had broad coverage from these in the past, including many national
newspapers and online publications.
Additional activities will include producing GridPP material, such as leaflets, posters, t-shirts, bags
and magic cubes. We have found these very valuable in raising GridPP's and LHC's profile at minimal
cost. The Dissemination Officer will also promote outreach training for members of the
collaboration, will identify GridPP staff who have specific expertise in this area and will arrange
occasional GridPP events, such as the Tier-1 open day.
On KE, our initial work has proved that GridPP's technology can be of use across a range of
disciplines and sectors, and we plan to continue this work during GridPP5. The objectives of this
program will be to improve awareness of the technologies developed by GridPP and its partners in
academia and industry, and hence facilitate the increase in use of these technologies within new
areas.
academic disciplines, and secondly, business and industry. GridPP has a strong outreach programme
to a public and academic audience, and intends to continue this in GridPP5. The Dissemination
Officer will organise GridPP's presence at conferences and events. This includes booking and
manning booths, arranging backdrops, material, posters, screens, and rotas where appropriate.
Examples of events that we have attended include The British Science Festival, The Royal Society
Summer Exhibition, the British Science Association Science Communication Conference and Meet
The Scientist at the Museum of Science and Industry in Manchester.
GridPP has developed an extensive website that is central to project communications. The
Dissemination Officer will be responsible for producing news items for the website and drafting
GridPP press releases. We have had broad coverage from these in the past, including many national
newspapers and online publications.
Additional activities will include producing GridPP material, such as leaflets, posters, t-shirts, bags
and magic cubes. We have found these very valuable in raising GridPP's and LHC's profile at minimal
cost. The Dissemination Officer will also promote outreach training for members of the
collaboration, will identify GridPP staff who have specific expertise in this area and will arrange
occasional GridPP events, such as the Tier-1 open day.
On KE, our initial work has proved that GridPP's technology can be of use across a range of
disciplines and sectors, and we plan to continue this work during GridPP5. The objectives of this
program will be to improve awareness of the technologies developed by GridPP and its partners in
academia and industry, and hence facilitate the increase in use of these technologies within new
areas.
| Description | This grant funds a programme to develop and operate High Performance Computing for the simulation and analysis of data related to the particle physics experiments at the Large Hadron Collider at CERN. This is achieved via a world-wide distributed network of dedicated computer clusters with large data stores, powerful number-crunching capacity and high-bandwidth for data transfer. The Large Hadron Collider experiments are science facilities that are producing vast amounts of new measurements and discoveries, including the discovery of the Higgs particle - announced in 2012 - that endows other elementary particles with non-zero mass. |
| Exploitation Route | The findings from this grant include the operation and further development of a highly successful model of computing to analyse very large distributed data sets ("big data"), with applications going well beyond particle physics. |
| Sectors | Digital/Communication/Information Technologies (including Software),Education,Electronics,Culture, Heritage, Museums and Collections |
| URL | https://www.gridpp.ac.uk/ |
| Description | A very significant indirect non-academic impact of the research carried out in this grant is the training of research physicists who, in many cases, go on to jobs with high value to society and the economy (in engineering, industry, technology, finance, teaching, etc). At the start of the pandemic significant GridPP project resources were made available and used for accelerating and improving the response to the crisis (eg by carrying out protein-folding and other studies aimed at fighting the Covid-19 virus). |
| First Year Of Impact | 2016 |
| Sector | Digital/Communication/Information Technologies (including Software),Education,Culture, Heritage, Museums and Collections,Pharmaceuticals and Medical Biotechnology |
| Impact Types | Cultural,Societal,Policy & public services |